Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) posted record profits of SR6.71 billion ($1.79 billion) in 2003, a 136 per cent increase from SR2.8 billion a year earlier.
Vice-chairman and CEO Mohamed Al Mady said continued expansions and new production programmes had helped achieve Sabic’s highest ever profit.
Total sales for the year were SR47.1 billion compared with SR34 billion in 2002, an increase of 39 per cent.
The Middle East’s largest petrochemicals company also announced fourth-quarter profits of SR1.961 billion.
Production in the year rose to 42.3 million tonnes compared with 40.6 million tonnes in 2002, an increase of four per cent.
“Sabic continues to study opportunities in the Middle East, Asia, and the Americas in order to further promote its global business, and get closer to its customers,” said Al Mady.
‘I would like to thank all Sabic employees, the chairman of the board, and all board members for their ongoing support,,” he said.
Riyadh-based Sabic was founded in 1976 when the Saudi government decided to use hydrocarbon gases released in the production of oil as raw material for the production of chemicals, polymers and fertilisers.
The Saudi government owns 70 per cent of Sabic shares, with the remaining 30 per cent held by private investors in Saudi Arabia and GCC countries. Sabic’s business activities have been restructured and a new management model became effective on September 1, 2002.
There are now six Strategic Business Units (SBUs): basic chemicals; intermediates; polyolefins; PVC & polyester; fertilisers and metals.
Supporting all these functions is a corporate core consisting of human resources; corporate finance; corporate control and research & technology.
Sabic has two large industrial sites in Saudi Arabia, one in Al Jubail and the other in Yanbu, with a total of 16 world-scale production complexes. Some of these production complexes are operated with multi-national partners such as Exxon Mobil, Shell, Fortum, Ecofuel/ENI and Mitsubishi Chemicals.
In addition, Sabic has interests in three production complexes in Bahrain. Sabic EuroPetrochemicals owns two petrochemical production sites in Geleen (Netherlands) and Gelsenkirchen (Germany) for the production, marketing and sales of polypropylenes, polyethylenes and hydrocarbons.
They annually sell about 2.6 million tonnes of polymers, mainly in Europe. About 2,300 people are employed at Sabic EuroPetrochemicals.
Sabic employs over 16,000 people worldwide, most of whom are based in Saudi Arabia.
